I have not been keeping up with this blog very well, but here is something I wrote back in the early weeks of the Mission Training School:
In the Bible, if we pay attention we see that God always intended for Israel to be a blessing to all nations. We can see the basis of missions from the very beginning and all the way through the Bible and not just the New Testament. Many times we treat Israel in a way that is untrue to scripture; we act like God loved Israel more than the other nations. This viewpoint is simply not correct and it requires ignoring hundreds of verses. Israel was chosen, but not special. God chose Israel and blessed Israel, but then he commanded Israel to be a blessing to other nations. Israel did not bless the other nations. God was forced to disperse them throughout the known world. In Diaspora, Jews again obeyed God and as a result they again became salt and light to the nations in which they lived.
We do the same thing with our faith and our blessings. We like to see the top-line blessing in the Bible, but it is easy to ignore the bottom line command to be a blessing to others.
The Biblical basis of Missions is that God is above all things; what I mean is, is that he is the only thing in the universe worthy of worship. This is not arrogant or cocky because God is not only worthy of all worship, but for Him to desire the worship or the greatest good of anything other than himself would be false. How could we worship or rely on a God who thought higher of something other than himself? What should God worship? Us. The earth. Satan. None of these are good options. The glory and worship of God is more important than all things.
Of course, it is important to note that when we say He desires His Name to be worshipped, we are synonymously also saying that he desires for all people to be happy and to live in joy. This is a result of the fact that God is love. These two statements may not seem to be the same thing, but they are. This has significantly simplified my explanation on the purpose of my life. At its most basic explanation, my purpose in life is to reflect God’s glory back to Him. It’s as simple as that.
God not only desires his Name to be proclaimed above all things, but also it is clear in the Bible that God wants His Name to proclaimed above all else, by all nations, all ethnae, or people groups. His name is not being worshipped by all nations and because of this fact we have the temporary thing called missions. “Worship is the beginning and ending of missions.” (John Piper) Missions or Evangelism is always on the heart of God and should always be on our heart as well. His purpose was clear in the Old Testament and the purpose remains the same in the New Testament.
Finally in the New Testament, we have a method or more accurately a God-man by which man can be reconciled to God and the entire point of scripture fulfilled, but the Great Commission is not a last-minute thought or just an add-on command from Jesus. Rather the Great Commission is the culmination of the entire point of the Bible: For all peoples, nations, tribes, and tongues to worship God.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Hardened Hearts
I've had a thought stuck in my head for the past few days. The other day, our Iraqi family was talking to us about Muslims and described them as having "locked minds." It is such an accurate description, and it reminds me of the Bible when people are described as having hardened hearts. Peopl with hardened hearts or locked minds are the most difficult to reach, and I think it applies to so many of us...even Christians can have hardened hearts sometimes. How often do I hear a teaching or truth about God, that I just don't want to hear so I choose to just ignore it? That is evidence of a hardened heart even if it applies to only one part of my life that I am not willing to let God change.
Thinking about this has also made me realize how thankful I am for the freedom that Christ gives us. We are allowed to question and search for the truth...for The Truth will always be found. We do not have to be scared of the unknown or conform to a rigid set of rules to guarantee our salvation. He has more grace than we could ever imagine. True acceptance of His grace makes us want to follow His teachings and reflect His love to the world. The difference is in our motives - do we do things in order to receive His salvation or do we do things because we love Him and want to glorify Him?
Thinking about this has also made me realize how thankful I am for the freedom that Christ gives us. We are allowed to question and search for the truth...for The Truth will always be found. We do not have to be scared of the unknown or conform to a rigid set of rules to guarantee our salvation. He has more grace than we could ever imagine. True acceptance of His grace makes us want to follow His teachings and reflect His love to the world. The difference is in our motives - do we do things in order to receive His salvation or do we do things because we love Him and want to glorify Him?
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Learning About Iraq and More
We just got home after spending the day with our refugee family from Iraq. Tim was able to briefly meet them earlier this week, but this was my first time to meet them. We are very blessed to have been assigned to a family that can speak English and are Christian! The wife is only a year older than me, and they have 3 children - 5, 3, and 1. We took them on their first trip to Wal-mart. It is an interesting place to explain and navigate when someone has never been there! It took us quite some time....managing all our kids, answering questions, etc, and then they treated us to a delicious lunch. We couldn't quite figure out what is was, but the main dish was very similar to stuffed green peppers. Over lunch, we talked about politics which made us realize how uninformed we are here. I know our news is very biased, and it was very eye opening to hear some first hand accounts. We have much more to learn!
It has been very frustrating for me to see highly educated refugees having to start all over in our country. I understand the logistics of it, but I can not imagine how humbling it must be for them to be forced to leave their nice home, jobs, and families to start over from the bottom here in the US. For example, the wife (Rasha) of our family was a dentist, and her husband (Kahled) was a mechanical engineer. They shared with us how hard it has been to be in their tiny apartment and feel so dependent on others. I know this is not the case with all refugees, but it has opened my eyes quite a bit.
The past couple of weeks have gone by very fast for us. Tim's family came to visit us last weekend. We celebrated Joel's birthday (again! :)) and visited Ikea. The rest of our week has fallen into routine with school and regular ministries. Tim is spending an afternoon each week with the three Taiwanese students, and they seem to be bonding very well. They even gave him a sweet thank you card this week! We also spent an evening with our neighbors this week. Gladys' (the wife) brother, came over afterwards and practiced speaking with Tim. His name is Jose, and we have been really impressed with his character and desire to spend time with us.
We got a lot of snow yesterday which is very exciting for many of the people here. We took the kids out to play and helped some neighbor boys make a snowman. It has been quickly melting today!
One of the girls in the school offered to watch our boys tonight, so we are going on our first date since we got here! It was last minute so we do not have any plans yet, but time alone is a blessing in itself no matter what we do. :)
Prayer requests:
-I have had struggled with loneliness again this week. Please continue praying that I will lean on Him and meet some more women.
-Tim's mom is having her biopsy this upcoming Thursday. Please continue praying for complete healing.
-Pray that we will have an opportunity to share our faith with Jose and the Taiwanese students.
It has been very frustrating for me to see highly educated refugees having to start all over in our country. I understand the logistics of it, but I can not imagine how humbling it must be for them to be forced to leave their nice home, jobs, and families to start over from the bottom here in the US. For example, the wife (Rasha) of our family was a dentist, and her husband (Kahled) was a mechanical engineer. They shared with us how hard it has been to be in their tiny apartment and feel so dependent on others. I know this is not the case with all refugees, but it has opened my eyes quite a bit.
The past couple of weeks have gone by very fast for us. Tim's family came to visit us last weekend. We celebrated Joel's birthday (again! :)) and visited Ikea. The rest of our week has fallen into routine with school and regular ministries. Tim is spending an afternoon each week with the three Taiwanese students, and they seem to be bonding very well. They even gave him a sweet thank you card this week! We also spent an evening with our neighbors this week. Gladys' (the wife) brother, came over afterwards and practiced speaking with Tim. His name is Jose, and we have been really impressed with his character and desire to spend time with us.
We got a lot of snow yesterday which is very exciting for many of the people here. We took the kids out to play and helped some neighbor boys make a snowman. It has been quickly melting today!
One of the girls in the school offered to watch our boys tonight, so we are going on our first date since we got here! It was last minute so we do not have any plans yet, but time alone is a blessing in itself no matter what we do. :)
Prayer requests:
-I have had struggled with loneliness again this week. Please continue praying that I will lean on Him and meet some more women.
-Tim's mom is having her biopsy this upcoming Thursday. Please continue praying for complete healing.
-Pray that we will have an opportunity to share our faith with Jose and the Taiwanese students.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Growth
As many of you know, Joel has extra sensitivities...water on his face, a hair in his mouth, socks not on right, sticky hands...all of those can send him in a panic. Although he has improved in many areas, it still can be very frustrating for Tim and I as we parent him. This week God has clearly shown me some of the benefits of Joel's sensitivities - I have needed some encouragement and thought I should share in case any of you have children with similar issues.
First, we were out with my parents for dinner on Saturday dinner, and I had ordered the boys milk with their meal. Caleb finished off his milk in no time, but Joel finally said "This tastes yucky!" I thought he was over-reacting until my mom tasted it and realized it was completely spoiled. The boys had drank from the same container...easy-going Caleb never even noticed, but Joel did. Today, I was laying with Joel trying to get him to fall asleep for his nap when he popped up and said, "Momma, do you snell (smell) somethin? I snell fire." Even with my sensitive pregnant nose, I hadn't noticed anything. I popped out of bed and peered out the window. Sure enough, there was a lot of smoke. Thankfully, it ended up being my neighbor starting his grill, but after one of the buildings burned down in our complex our first weekend here, we have been extra cautious whenever we smell smoke. I am reminded that God has made each of us unique, and we can use our gifts as strengths or weaknesses. What I sometimes view as a weakness (or an annoyance) is actually a strength!
So after that learning moment for me, here is a quick summary of last week. Monday was kind of rough. We woke up to find that someone has sawed off the muffler on Tim's car. It was funny (Tim looked so funny driving around in such a loud car!) until we realized how much those things cost. The original muffler was around $800 to replace, so we opted for a generic...still a whopping $200. That afternoon, I had my first dr appointment here in Atlanta. So awesome! I got to see the baby move and suck it's thumb in 3D. On Tuesday, I volunteered at the Cafe and helped two women with their resumes - one from Iraq and one from China. They are so sweet and it is such a joy to help them. That evening, we got a late night call informing us that Tim's brother, Peter, had lost feeling in his foot and it was turning cold and white. He went to the emergency room, and after a few hours, his foot suddenly gained back feeling! The doctors say it was probably caused by his shoes, but we are chalking it up to a miracle. Tim spent the afternoon on Wednesday with some of his new Taiwanese friends at Georgia Tech. Thursday evening we spent with the family upstairs. They are moving to a new building this week :( so we are bummed that they won't be so close. I should mention why they are moving. They had 4 adults and 2 children living in a 2 bedroom apartment. One of the guys moved out, so they said the "don't need all that room" and are moving into a one bedroom. The parents and 2 children all sleep in the same room together. Such a reminder of how spoiled we are! Anyways, my parents flew in on Friday and spoiled us rotten. We celebrated Joel's 3rd birthday and took him to the Aquarium. On Sunday, we visited the same church as last week and my parents took Joel to Chuck E Cheese.
The focus of Tim's classes last week were on prayer. This is something Tim and I have always been weak in, and we have been learning (and seeing) a lot on the power of prayer.
Prayer requests:
-Tim's mom has found a couple of new lumps in the past few weeks. She will need a biopsy in the next couple of weeks. Please be praying for peace and a miracle of complete healing.
- We have finally been assigned a refugee family. They just moved here in January from Iraq and our believers! Please be praying that we will be a light to them and that we will build a strong relationship with them in the few short months that we will be here.
First, we were out with my parents for dinner on Saturday dinner, and I had ordered the boys milk with their meal. Caleb finished off his milk in no time, but Joel finally said "This tastes yucky!" I thought he was over-reacting until my mom tasted it and realized it was completely spoiled. The boys had drank from the same container...easy-going Caleb never even noticed, but Joel did. Today, I was laying with Joel trying to get him to fall asleep for his nap when he popped up and said, "Momma, do you snell (smell) somethin? I snell fire." Even with my sensitive pregnant nose, I hadn't noticed anything. I popped out of bed and peered out the window. Sure enough, there was a lot of smoke. Thankfully, it ended up being my neighbor starting his grill, but after one of the buildings burned down in our complex our first weekend here, we have been extra cautious whenever we smell smoke. I am reminded that God has made each of us unique, and we can use our gifts as strengths or weaknesses. What I sometimes view as a weakness (or an annoyance) is actually a strength!
So after that learning moment for me, here is a quick summary of last week. Monday was kind of rough. We woke up to find that someone has sawed off the muffler on Tim's car. It was funny (Tim looked so funny driving around in such a loud car!) until we realized how much those things cost. The original muffler was around $800 to replace, so we opted for a generic...still a whopping $200. That afternoon, I had my first dr appointment here in Atlanta. So awesome! I got to see the baby move and suck it's thumb in 3D. On Tuesday, I volunteered at the Cafe and helped two women with their resumes - one from Iraq and one from China. They are so sweet and it is such a joy to help them. That evening, we got a late night call informing us that Tim's brother, Peter, had lost feeling in his foot and it was turning cold and white. He went to the emergency room, and after a few hours, his foot suddenly gained back feeling! The doctors say it was probably caused by his shoes, but we are chalking it up to a miracle. Tim spent the afternoon on Wednesday with some of his new Taiwanese friends at Georgia Tech. Thursday evening we spent with the family upstairs. They are moving to a new building this week :( so we are bummed that they won't be so close. I should mention why they are moving. They had 4 adults and 2 children living in a 2 bedroom apartment. One of the guys moved out, so they said the "don't need all that room" and are moving into a one bedroom. The parents and 2 children all sleep in the same room together. Such a reminder of how spoiled we are! Anyways, my parents flew in on Friday and spoiled us rotten. We celebrated Joel's 3rd birthday and took him to the Aquarium. On Sunday, we visited the same church as last week and my parents took Joel to Chuck E Cheese.
The focus of Tim's classes last week were on prayer. This is something Tim and I have always been weak in, and we have been learning (and seeing) a lot on the power of prayer.
Prayer requests:
-Tim's mom has found a couple of new lumps in the past few weeks. She will need a biopsy in the next couple of weeks. Please be praying for peace and a miracle of complete healing.
- We have finally been assigned a refugee family. They just moved here in January from Iraq and our believers! Please be praying that we will be a light to them and that we will build a strong relationship with them in the few short months that we will be here.
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